14.06.2026 14:00 - 18:00
Stiftung Sitterwerk, Sittertalstrasse 34, 9014 St. Gallen
An exhibition about the process of black dyeing, its site-specific potential and today's challenges.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the Sitterwerk Foundation, the exhibition "Schwarz ≠ Schwarz" (Black ≠ Black) takes up the industrial history of the Sittertal site. Where today the art library and the materials archive invite visitors to explore, there was once a black dye works. Based on this local history, the exhibition is dedicated to the processes of black dyeing as a cultural, technological and material-related practice - from pre-industrial and non-European techniques to today's chemical dyeing processes and their ecological and social effects.
The focus is on the question of what we know about black dyeing today and what remains mostly invisible in everyday life. The exhibition allows visitors to experience the enormous variety of color tones and the differences in materials and processes. Historical archives, material samples and contemporary exhibits are combined with current issues relating to sustainability, global value chains and ecological responsibility.
An expansive installation makes the alchemy of the process physically tangible: By experimenting with regional resources such as gall apples, onion skins and oak bark, color tones of deep complexity are created. Even mud from the Sitter river is used in the mud dyeing technique, transferring the immediate surroundings of the Sitter plant directly onto the textile. The knowledge generated remains a living resource: The material samples on display will be permanently added to the material archive after the end of the exhibition.
Curation: Wayne Switzer, Claudine Brignot
Artistic research: Pauline Agustoni
In cooperation with students of the Fashion Marketing and Sustainable Fashion Design and Management course at the BSP Business and Law School, Berlin
The exhibition is supported by: Arnold Billwiller Foundation, Dr. Georg and Josi Guggenheim Foundation, Metrohm Foundation, Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council, Walter and Verena Spühl Foundation and Corymbo Foundation. The black dyeing workshops are made possible by the City of St.Gallen / Gemeinsam wirkt.
Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.
The focus is on the question of what we know about black dyeing today and what remains mostly invisible in everyday life. The exhibition allows visitors to experience the enormous variety of color tones and the differences in materials and processes. Historical archives, material samples and contemporary exhibits are combined with current issues relating to sustainability, global value chains and ecological responsibility.
An expansive installation makes the alchemy of the process physically tangible: By experimenting with regional resources such as gall apples, onion skins and oak bark, color tones of deep complexity are created. Even mud from the Sitter river is used in the mud dyeing technique, transferring the immediate surroundings of the Sitter plant directly onto the textile. The knowledge generated remains a living resource: The material samples on display will be permanently added to the material archive after the end of the exhibition.
Curation: Wayne Switzer, Claudine Brignot
Artistic research: Pauline Agustoni
In cooperation with students of the Fashion Marketing and Sustainable Fashion Design and Management course at the BSP Business and Law School, Berlin
The exhibition is supported by: Arnold Billwiller Foundation, Dr. Georg and Josi Guggenheim Foundation, Metrohm Foundation, Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council, Walter and Verena Spühl Foundation and Corymbo Foundation. The black dyeing workshops are made possible by the City of St.Gallen / Gemeinsam wirkt.
Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.
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Stiftung Sitterwerk